Parfried and frozen potato products are widely available and used in both the food service markets and consumer markets. Because the worldwide demand for these products in the food service industry alone is so large, parfried and frozen potatoes have become very important products to the food processing industry generally, and to the potato processing industry in particular. Indeed, entire industries and markets have developed around these products alone. As such, there is a constant demand not only for new products, but also for improved processing methods to make the products.
One of the most common frozen potato products now available is the popular french-fry potato strip, commonly called the “french fry.” In addition to traditional straight-cut french fries, parfried and frozen potato products are available in a wide variety of different cut shapes and forms, such as helical fries and waffle-cut fries. There are also various flavored products, battered products and the like.
Within the food service industry, particularly in the fast food segment, most french fries are prepared at the restaurant by “finish frying” the frozen potato strips in hot oil. The quality of finished french fries sold to consumers is affected not only by the finish frying step at the restaurant, but also is greatly affected by the processing method used to make the frozen strips. Common to most known processes for making french fries is the desire to produce a product that meets the needs of restaurants, food service providers and consumers.
Lower fat content is sought by many consumers, particularly those interested in monitoring and controlling their consumption of fats. It therefore has become desirable, partly for health reasons, for potato processors to offer as one option a french fry having a reduced fat content.
It is therefore one object of the present invention to provide a process for preparing frozen potato products having a reduced fat content that, upon reconstitution, exhibit desirable attributes regardless of the manner of reconstitution.
A further object of this invention is to provide a processing method for preparing frozen potato products having a reduced fat content which, upon reconstitution, exhibit desirable flavor, texture and appearance characteristics.
Yet another object of this invention is to provide a reduced fat potato product and process for preparing same, that exhibits desirable flavor, texture and appearance characteristics when reconstituted by baking.
Another object is to provide a no-fat potato product and process for preparing the same, that exhibits acceptable flavor, texture and appearance characteristics.
Other objects and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention.